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From Cuzco, Peru, we took an overnight bus to Paracas on the coast. This proved to be a very interesting journey, as we were desending from the highs of the Cordillera Mountains to sea level along a dirt road. The scenery that we could see in the moonlight was most spectacular. Paracas National Reserve consists of large areas of coastal desert and rocky islands. We took a boat tour around the islands to see the seals (the photo), penguins and amazing rock formations. These islands are famous for their fertiliser production, a collection of nitrogen-rich bird shit (guano).On the way we passed an early civilisation drawing in the desert. Its called the "Candle Stick", which of course it was not as they surely did not have any then.

Back in Lima for the second time we went to the famous Museum of Gold. After seeing this we now understand why many of the other museums in Peru have very poor collections. This private collection consists of vast amounts of pre-Inca objects and one could spend an hour at each case, not to mention all the rooms and the whole place. Above the gold vault is the worlds best arms museum. Although we did not have much time to look through it, we did notice pistols from Hitler and Castro.
The photo shows Domino at night infront of the San Francisco monastery, with catacombs in the basement with the bones of an estimated 70,000 people. If you click on the photo you can see the night sky about, that is a eirri as the catacombs themselves.

We headed north to Huascaran National Park, which is home to Peru's highest summit. Unfortunately Miles was unable to climb it due to the poor whether at this time of year, which also meant that we ended up spending a lot of time in our hostel. We did make it to Lake Llanganuco, which you can see in the photo, and lies at the bottom of the most beautiful glaciated valley. The photo tells no lie, the water was really that colour. We left Huaraz, heading again for the coast and a place called Sechin, which is a 1600BC ruin. Unfortunately there is not much left to see apart from some walls covered in carvings of human sacrifice. The museum did not help either to explain the culture that worshiped at this temple. From hear we headed along the Pan-American highway to Trujillo and a host of other pre-Inca ruins.

The first we went to visit was the Temple Huaca Arco Iris, seen in the photo along with our guide, Pedro Puertas. This mud temple has a series of carved panels that show the growth of a rainbow to refresh the dogs, with tungs hanging out. The civilisation who worshiped her believed in water as their deity, and you can see why because of the surrounding desert. The next site was a small temple that dates from 1300AD and covered in fishes, fishing nets and sea otters.

The city of Chan Chan which dates from the same civilisation, is massive, consisting of nine to twenty four Royal Compounds, of which the partially restored one can be seen in the photo. What is remarkable about this desert of crumbling walls is that its construction was in one go, unlike most cities that evolve with time. Nobody knows the reasons that a whole society of about 300,000 people decided to move here and build their capital.
The next ruin, Temple of the Moon, is part an earlier civilisation who built a series of plazas on top of each other, creating what looks like a pyramid. The walls of some of the plazas have been excavated to show some beautiful geometric friezes.

North again we went to Chiclayo and more pre-Inca ruins. We visited the Sipan Burial site, which is a crumbling mud pyramid that contained the adored tomb of a lord Sipan. The photo shows Domino looking into the excuvated berial chamber. The amount of information about this society that they have derived from this tomb is amazing, and is very well displayed in the adjoining museum. We also visited the private collection of Mr. Bruning, covering the same period.

The photos shows another city of crumbling pyramids of which little is known, but was very impressive at sunset.

From the coast we headed to the mountains and Equador, passing a field of drying orange corncobs, which can be seen in the photo.

But before leaving Peru we should mention the Presidential elections there. For us westerners a few points stood out. They are apparently the first democratic elections in Peru's history. Not counting the rigged ones. The candidates are of some interest too. One being a ousted 1980īs president who was convicted of pocketing millions of dollars. The other, Toledo, a shoe shiner who managed to get himself to school and a degree from Stanford University in the States. There was a total of nine candidates for the elections, but Peru's constitution stipulates that the winner much get over 50% of the vote. This lead to a run off election between the two candidates mentioned above, with Toledo, the shoe shiner coming out barely on top, due to his appeal to the poorer classes.

The first village we visited in Equador was Vilacamba which is located in the valley of longevity. The first hostel we stayed in offers the luxury of a swimming pool, steam room, jecusi, sauna and two meals a day for the many passing through weary travelers. We were not that comfortable at the sight of cooking bodies watching out of date films, so we headed for the hills to spend the next night in a remote refuge.

Here I would like a pause of silence for Equadors extinct currency, the Sucre............... They have gone one step further that Argentina, who fixed their dollar to the US dollar at a rate of 1:1. Equador, suffering from inflation of 400%, totally dissolved their money last September and now only uses US dollars. You would be forgiven for thinking this a benefit for tourists, but unfortunately this has also meant it is more expensive to travel, in what is South Americas second poorest country. Statistics.! The first reason for this is now the smallest denomination is the Cent, but in reality every thing get rounded to the Dime, Quater or Dollar, which would bye you a lot in Peru or Bolivia. The second reason for us is that the US dollar increased in value against the Boliviano or Peruvian New Sole, but again there is no benefit for us. For the change over Equador had to produce vast quantise of coins, because it could not import enough. I wonder if they compensated the US for this production.?

The next stop in Equador was Baņos, and to anybody who has an understanding of Spanish, they will know that this means baths. The picture shows us with mud covering our faces sitting in the boiling hot water that bubbles up from the ground. Here we also cycled to Puyo, in the jungle, which was a bit like the cycle trip Miles did from La Paz. Domino was not at all impressed with the dirt, dust and effort, but we did pass some very beautiful waterfalls on the Rio Negro, which was actually black from the ashes of the recent volcanic eruption.

Here you can see our jungle guide with a Parana that Domino just caught. We took a five day jungle tour from Coca, a repulsive town that is the result of the oil exploitation in the nearby National Parks. We had to take a five hour boat/canoe ride down river to get to the lodge, and pristine jungle. We were the only ones there for the first two days, so we had all the staff at our disposal.

Here you can seen Domino with the lodges pet, a couple of flightless birds. They are very friendly and always came running to greet us when we would return from a trek.

Domino was fascinated with the fauna in the jungle. This is one of the many upward views while walking among the trees. We saw the rubber tree, the first anti-malaria plants, many Indian medicine plants a ton of monkeys.

Here is Miles in our canoe. We took some trips to nearby lakes where we saw fresh water dolphins and a variety of birds, like the endangered Tucan. We also took a ride in a dug out canoe, in which the guide lost his way in the forest.

Quito and shopping was next. Quito is 22km from the Equator, where there are many museums, craft shops and a hugh monument. We went around the back to a private museum which showed us that he was really on the Equator by his sink test. When he let the water out of the sink it went stright down, but if he moved it to the right or left it went down clockwise or anti-clockwise. Very facinating to see.!
After more shopping in the village of Sayuisili, the most important natives market in Equador. From there we headed for Zumbuhua heading over several mountains and along beautiful patchworked valleys.

Our destination, Laguna Quilotoa, a amazing volcanic crater filled with water. We thought it would be a nice idea to walk around it, a seven hour walk up and down hills in the wind and rain.

Then back to Quito who's old centre is an UNESCO cultural heritage site, and rightly so. The photo shows the inside of the La Compaņa church, that has seven tons of gold leaf covering it's interior. The "new town" or "gringo land" of Quito has a vast selection of international cuisine. The Thai restaurant was our favourite and Miles got poisened in the Indian. We also should mention the clean, efficant, "Trole" electronic bus service, which is totally out of place for the second poorest country in South America. But maybe the change to US dollars is paying off.?